Hello everyone. Before I get started, this is not another lame comparison. This is more of a question about one feature of each OS...the push notifications.

I recently moved from the US to Germany for my job. During this transition, I had some issues with my Lumia 928. Verizon claims it is a "Global" unlocked phone, and it mostly is. However, there are issues with the APN settings for global data. Thanks to some help from a forum member (AR2186), I was able to download and install Nokia's Access Point app, which solved my problem.

Throughout all of this, I was working with my local provider (Telekom) and Verizon. Verizon did all they could, which was nothing, and Telekom did the same. They were both able to give me helpful information, but neither was able to fix the issue. Verizon is only capable of pushing it's own APN settings to the phone again, and Telekom can't do anything with the 928 since they don't carry it.

Why all of this background? Because during the process, I was using WiFi like a mad man to stay in touch with family and friends back in the US. Something that became apparent to me, was there is a serious issue with push notifications and WP (7, 8 and probably 8.1). I can always remember having issues, but it never bothered me before because I could always call or text with no issues. While troubleshooting the issues, the kiosk I signed up for Telekom with, gave me a "Loaner" phone to hold me over (Because Telekom requires three months of service before you can add a phone to your contract, and I don't want to pay 600 Euros for a new one).

When I finally got my problem with the 928 solved, I was chatting with people in the states using Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Viber. I seem to miss notifications on WP with all three apps, whereas the little Android I had sitting next to me was firing off left and right. This fact alone is making me consider moving to Android or iOS while I'm overseas.

My questions is, for anyone else who has considered switching, or has using both OS's recently, who has the best push notification system?

I may not switch, as I have to wait three months anyway. During that time, I'll be trying to find ways to ensure I don't miss push notifications....and if it starts working like it should, I won't switch. I love this phone, and Nokia is great with customer support.

I don't use YIM or Viber. So,no comment on those two. On Skype, I've only had problems with notifications on my phone when I'm simultaneously on Skype on my Surface. But, if both are in the background, I get notifications on both nearly simultaneously (the phone is often often first to ping on both Skype and Lync).

Lets put it this way, I won't say who has the best working push notifications but I will say Windows Phone is not on the list for being best.

Just look around these forums.

In most cases however, the problem is "self inflicted" (I still blame WP), because people turn off cellular data and are then surprised that they don't get notifications.

IMHO we should be able to turn off cellular data in two steps: everything except push notifications and then truly everything. Particularly while roaming that would be very helpful, as people might not want to pile up unnecessary roaming costs, but still spend the pennies to get notifications and stay connected.

Is your WP device able to transfer data over cellular (setting enabled + data plan)? You can test by disabling WiFi and then attempting to access the internet.

If not, then that is your problem. While not in range of a WiFi AP, no device could recieve notifications without that capability.

I may not have been super clear, but cellular data is on, and all the services work......it's just that push notifications are not reliable. Sometimes they work, other times I get them a day or two late because I hadn't opened the app in a while.

Push notifications should simply work. They wwork great for email, but that is THE ONLY app that is 95% or better with reliability. I'm pretty sure its a WP issue as well, since most of the apps are cross platform, and server based push notifications should operate almost identically across any device.

^ yeah, you didn't say anything about the technical configuration, so that wasn't clear.

Apps that you don't use for two weeks or more seem to get deregistered from MPNS, so that might be another source of notification problems.

I haven't had any problems with delayed notifications after figuring out those two potential issues (I'm in Germany often too).

I use them all the time...multiple times a day usually, but they don't sit idle for more than a couple of days. Do they unregister after a restart? The problem, though, is that I've seen this issue stateside, and with my older 822 and my Trophy. It just wasn't much of an issue because being stateside meant I could text or call for free.

Well, I checked the background tasks yesterday to make sure I didn't have them disabled. To my surprise, Skype and Viber don't allow you to turn off the background agent. None of the affected apps were disabled.

To my surprise, Skype and Viber don't allow you to turn off the background agent. None of the affected apps were disabled.

I didn't even know that was possible. I think we know the reason why...

Unfortunately, I'm out of ideas. If I was in your shoes and had such issues, I'd definitely call Nokia at this point. Explain the things you've checked up on, how your device is configured, and that you have an Android on loan to compare to, which is how you know the notifications aren't going through as they should.

I'm going to say that Android is probably the best for notifications. I have problems with notifications on my 920 (Facebook notifications don't work at all, and I have problems with Facebook chat integration). It's also annoying that third party apps can only check in the background every 30 minutes.

I say Android over iOS because I've heard that iOS's notification center needs improvement, so I'm going off of that solely. I've never tried iOS. Maybe iOS 7 will bring the necessary improvements.

But what I can confirm is that WP is not the best for push notifications.

I didn't even know that was possible. I think we know the reason why...

Unfortunately, I'm out of ideas. If I was in your shoes and had such issues, I'd definitely call Nokia at this point. Explain the things you've checked up on, how your device is configured, and that you have an Android on loan to compare to, which is how you know the notifications aren't going through as they should.

Sorry I couldn't help.

Actually you did help. You provided some advice and options, and contributed to the conversation. I'll probably contact Nokia, because they seem to be very willing to do whatever they can. My problem is, I've seen it on multiple WP devices, and I'm worried they're going to ask me to do things like a Master Reset and/or exchange the phone. I hate doing those things once I have the device "dialed-in" so-to-speak.

I was thinking about iPhone just because I think that may be easier for my daughter (I would likely swap both of us). For me, the biggest downfall of going to another phone/OS is losing the camera in this phone (I'd probably keep it tagging along just for that). Sans the HTC One, nothing even comes close.

Just wanted to provide a quick update. I ran into other issues with the phone (Telekom - despite all their efforts - couldn't get SMS to work). With that compounding my problems, I have (for now) made the switch to the iPhone. I may return to WP once I'm back in the states, or I'm confident they got the notification bugs fixed, but for now I need something that I know works.

Key things I also noticed after the switch: The Lumia 928 will not use LTE here. I'm seeing it all the time on the iPhone, but never saw it on the 928. Of course, all this means is that the radio isn't there, which is understandable. Also, the polish, refinement and features of some of the apps seems better. I know this will get better with time on WP, but for now at least, it's a change I can welcome. I still like the design language of WP to iOS.